Hate Crime

“Bush seeks another tax cut for the rich,” the Dec. 31, 2002, editorial in the Honolulu Advertiser was a sad example of failed socialist ideology.

Here is a partial list of what was wrong with it: It assumed that whatever any individual earns, owns or otherwise possesses, in wealth does not in fact, belong to him. Eventually, good-bye to the authors 401K plan. It will be taken by government because it “needs” it.
It subtly called for class warfare. A tax is a penalty on earnings. The editorial calls for higher penalties on those who work hard, earn more, save more, invest more. In other words those who are successful in pursuit of the “American Dream.”
Which leads directly to the point that jobs are created by entrepreneurial investment. Have you ever seen a “poor” person hire an employee or invest in a business? How many reader employees work for “poor” people? To discourage business and job formation via penalties is to assure feeble economic growth and to destroy the prosperity that could be created. Actually, poverty is created.
The entire editorial smacks of envy. The same kind, on a lesser scale, that is supposedly the basis for terrorist attacks on the USA. Envy, when encouraged, produces hate, which fosters violence.

Based on the above, the editorial is evil in its theme. The intent is undoubtedly benign but the result is horrible.

It was an endorsement of hate crime of the same genre as the discrimination against and murder of successful Chinese business people in Indonesia, Malaysia and elsewhere in Southeast Asia. The newspaper should retract that editorial — now.

”’Richard O. Rowland is president of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii. He can be reached via email at mailto:grassroot@hawaii.rr.com or by phone at (808) 487-4959. More information about the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii can be found at its Web site at”’ http://www.grassrootinstitute.org

Hawaii Reporter is an award-winning, independent Hawaii-based news and opinion journal founded in 2001 and launched in February 2002. The journal's staff have won a number of top awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, including the top investigative news reporting awards, business reporting awards, government reporting awards, and online news reporting awards.